


Short and Sweet

by thegalrahobbitofplantetgalilfrey



Category: Original Work
Genre: Cancer, Gen, Lots of tiny stories, Murder, some violence i guess
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-04
Updated: 2017-04-04
Packaged: 2018-10-14 21:14:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,219
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10544436
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thegalrahobbitofplantetgalilfrey/pseuds/thegalrahobbitofplantetgalilfrey
Summary: A collection of short stories I randomly wrote. Comment to tell me how I did!





	1. An Eye for a ... Heart?

**Author's Note:**

> These are just some stories I did for a project, and I thought, I don't know, maybe someone will like them.

“What do you think sir?”

            “I think it’s yet another gruesome murder with no way to connect it to the others except the way they were killed.”

            “Well, yes, sir, but what else-”

            Inspector Graves banged his fist on the desk. “If I knew anything else, we would be arresting people, not sitting in here talking!”

            The lieutenant backed away nervously. “Yes, sir. Excuse me, sir.” He quickly exited the room. Graves rubbed his temples and sighed. Thirty gruesome murders. _Thirty_. Nothing connecting them. They were of all genders, sizes, looks, different occupations, different high-schools, different collages, different home circumstances, absolutely nothing in common. The more people murdered, the less leads they had, the more variables. The only way they were connected was the bodies. All of them had the left eye plucked out and placed in a hole in their chest. That was the symbol. That was the only reason they had decided this was a serial killer, because they all were killed in the same way. The lights shut off. He hadn’t noticed how late it had gotten, sitting here, trying to figure out murder. He wandered out to his car. Time to get home.

            “I was so worried! Why didn’t you call home to tell me you would be late? I thought that serial killer had gotten you!”

Graves kissed his wife. “Sorry Elise. I lost track of time.”

            “Your lateness caused me to lose track of how much dinner I cooked! There’s enough for four people!”

            “I promise I’ll be back in time for dinner tomorrow.”

            “You mean the day you catch the killer?”

Graves stopped. “Hey, now that’s not fair-”

            “Fair schmair. How’s the case going?”

            “Terribly.”

            “Well, have you considered the obvious two options?”

            “What?”

            She continued, “One: one person killed _one_ person, and some creep decided to kill someone else the same way, so the first man would get the blame. Then various murderers kept doing it to get away with you thinking it was the original criminal. Two: The evidence is barely there. Someone knows how to cover up. Obviously, they know how the polices’ investigations work; ergo, they are either a former policeperson or one of your own.” She took in the shocked look on his face with a smirk. “A woman’s touch works wonders.”

            “Alright, people, I need investigations on former police officers that could have possibly done this, and I am going to ask you all to bear with me, but we will have to interview each of you. I trust you all, but we can’t risk another life.”

            “Who gave you this idea, sir?”

            “That’s not important, lieutenant. The point is, it could very well be a lead.”

            “It was your wife, wasn’t it?” The building fell silent, one doctor in charge of blood testing staring at them, mouth open.

            “I said,” growled Graves through gritted teeth, “it isn’t important. What is important is that you do what I say.”

            “She’s going to get hurt someday, you telling her everything.”

            “Lieutenant, I didn’t hire you to criticize my life choices. Do your job.”

            “Yes sir.”

           

Elise was going to kill him. He’d been at his desk looking at files until twelve, and he was surprised she hadn’t driven up and dragged him home by his ears. And he only had a couple of suspects to show from his work. They’d be solving his murder next. He shoved the door to his house open. A light was on in the kitchen.

            “Elise? Elise, I’m home.” He walked into the kitchen, before reeling back, horror rising in his throat. Elsie was dead on the floor. With her left eye embedded in her chest.

            “You! It was you wasn’t it?!” Graves slammed the lieutenant into the wall. “You killed her!”

            “Sir, I-”

            “Don’t lie to me! You even hinted yesterday! You made threats, and you carried them out!” The blood testing doctor and another policeman pulled Graves off of the lieutenant.

            “Sir, calm down.”

            “I will not! He killed my wife!” A policewoman stepped forward.

            “Sir, I can vouch for him! He was with me the whole night! I promise he is not the murderer.” Veins were pulsing on Graves’ forehead and the doctor pulled him away. She was surprisingly strong for a woman. Another doctor helped the lieutenant up and he wiped the blood from his mouth.

            “Careful Graves. That temper could be trouble.” The doctor pulled him away before he could react.

            “Sir, he is right. You could get into trouble.”

            “I don’t care. Why should I care? It doesn’t matter anymore. My love is dead; my life is meaningless.” The doctor slapped him full across the face.

            “Sir! Snap out of it! That attitude is not going to get you anywhere! Isn’t tracking down Elise’s murderer and making sure she doesn’t hurt anyone else important?!” Graves took in a shaky breath.

            “You’re right. Thank you.”

            “Anytime, sir.” He nodded and left. The doctor helped a lot after that. But the case was thickening. Their suspects were being murdered, but it didn’t point to anyone. And when they tried to protect the suspects, the randomness of the previous murders restarted. It was obviously someone in his own ranks. He kept bringing in the lieutenant in for questioning, but the man had nothing to give. Everybody was questioned, but no one could be it.

            Graves sat at his desk, head in hands. Who could the murderer be? This morning, the lieutenant was found dead. His mind started to connect the dots. _Staring at him and the lieutenant._ No. Not their fight. At what the lieutenant had said about who really had figured it out. _…tracking down Elise’s murderer… Make sure_ she _doesn’t kill anyone else…_ he hadn’t told her his wife’s name. She had been at all the investigations, had known who they were protecting. Had known how to cover up.

            “Going somewhere?” The doctor who had been so kind to him started up. She was packing things in her lab.

            “Uh, hello, sir, I didn’t expect to see you-”

            “Spare me. Why’d you murder them?” She sighed and dropped her bag.

            “You have me. I… the first time, he attacked me. I was a little… vengeful, even after he was dead. Then, I got scared. What if you found out? So I started the serial killings, just a few, so you wouldn’t be able to connect anything to me, because of the conflicting evidence. Then… Then I found I was pregnant.” Her eyes welled up with tears. “I didn’t want to kill the doctor,” she whispered, “It’s like something took over, and I just did. I aborted later. I didn’t want to have to leave the police force. It was even harder to restrain the beast inside after that. I just… kept going. I kept killing, and I didn’t know when to stop, and you were investigating, and your wife was figuring everything out, and… and…”

            “You killed Elise! You killed all those people!”

            “I know, I know,” she sobbed, “I killed them. I killed them. I can’t do this anymore!” She pulled a gun out and pointed it at Graves. She was hyperventilating now. “I’m sorry, so sorry.” She was about to pull the trigger, but then stopped. “What am I doing? How can I… NO! I am done with this! All of it!” Before Graves could stop her, before he could even move, she put the gun to her own temple. And squeezed the trigger.

            “Congratulations, sir. You caught our killer.” Graves stared at the body being carried out of the building. He was old. He was only realizing that now, but he was well past his prime.

            “Yeah,” he muttered, “Congratulations.” He handed in his resignation in that day.


	2. Can't Reach the Sky

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> World crisis scenario!

“A cancer bomb?”

“That’s right! A scientist managed to infect a virus with cancerous DNA, and made it into a bomb, so when it explodes,” a wild wave of the hands, “Everybody in the area will get cancer! And it spreads like a cold, so…”

“Never going to happen you nerd.” Tina was a major in biology, thank you very much, and did _not_ like being called nerd or geek, especially by her best friend. They were in college; they shouldn’t be calling each other names.

“It _did_ happen Nellie! It was all over the news!”

“Can’t trust everything you hear.”

“ _Nellie._ ”

“Well, it’s not like _we_ can do anything to stop it. It’s in the hands of the police now. But if you feel like you need to do something, create a cure for cancer.” The phone clicked off, but Tina sat a while, pondering her friend’s words.

**_________________**

 

“What, you’re actually going to do it?”

“Of course I am! Why else would you suggest it?!”

Nellie moaned in despair. “I was being sarcastic you twit!”

“Did you watch the news this morning?”

“Tina. I _never_ , as a _rule_ , watch the news.”

“Well, he exploded it somewhere in Africa.”

“Malaria, Ebola, cancer virus… Poor Africa.”

“Right. It’ll be hard to get a sample since they quarantined the area, but I have friends, you have even more friends, I’m sure between the two of us we can get something.”

“We?”

“Oh, yes. You’re helping.” She got up on a chair, her hands upraised towards the sky outside the window. “I’m gonna touch the clouds.”

And so the great task, which had been tried and tried and tried again re-began, this time with the imagination of two teenaged girls. But the further she got into her work, the more Tina was separated from her family.

**_____________**

 

“Tina, come to your brother’s baseball game! He made it to playoffs!”

“Can’t, Mom. Cancer has spread to Europe and Asia. I have to keep working.”

**____________**

“Tina, your sister broke her arm and is asking for you in the hospital!”

“Can’t, Dad. Cancer is in Australia and South America. I have to keep going.”

**___________**

 

“Tina, your mother has cancer! Come visit her in the hospital. She’s _dying_.”

“I can save her! I… just… need… more… time.”

**___________**

“Nellie, what are you doing?”

Nellie dragged Tina away from her lab. “Tina, your mother died last night. They said they tried to call you, to tell you she’d taken a turn for the worse, but you never picked up.” Her eyes welled with tears. “I’m so sorry Tina.”

“What? No, that’s not possible! I’m almost done, that’s not possible!”

“Did you ever visit her?”

“No, she can’t be dead!”

“Are you coming to the funeral?”

“No, I can’t! I have to finish! I have to prevent this ever happening again!”

“Tina, she was your _mother_! May the Good Lord help and forgive me, I will handcuff you to me and drag you, kicking and screaming, to that funeral if I have to!”

So she did. She dragged Tina to her car and handcuffed her to the door, handcuffing her unwilling friend to her wrist for the service. Whispers were passed around, along with the normal condolences.

“-Hears she didn’t even visit…”

“-Not even wearing black, so disrespectful.”

After the service and burial, Tina stumbled outside. It was raining, tears as well as raindrops rolling down her face. She stretched her fingers towards the gray sky.

“Is this what you want,” she screamed, “To ruin me and drive me to despair?! Because it won’t work! I’ll fight on! She was my _mother_! Was this some kind of lesson?! To not get proud, to tell me that I’m not all-powerful?! To stay with my family?! Because I learned it! I know I can’t reach the heavens! I know how important my loved ones are! Was this… was this the price? My mother?! Why?! Why?!” Her voice broke as she screamed, and she banged her head on a wall, bruising her forehead, splitting the skin, but she didn’t care. She continued to sob. “Next time, leave my family alone. They’re all I’ve got, take me instead. I don’t care if you take me, just leave me my family!”

Two months later, she was diagnosed with cancer. Two months after that, she discovered the cure.

**__________**

 

“Hey, Mom. I did it. I discovered the cure.” Tina stood in a tiny graveyard, flowers in her hand. She was older, more beautiful, but marked by the struggles against cancer. She shook her head, smiling slightly.  “It was pretty simple once I thought of it, white blood cells, genetically engineered to take down the virus. There are other scientists trying to engineer it to work on normal cancer as well. It’s pretty amazing. There’s no more war. Everybody is so busy trying to heal their countries that no one is trying to start a war. I made sure that the poorer places could get the medicine too, so no one has to worry. You’d love it. No more war, everybody helping each other.” She set the flowers on the mound, almost sure she could feel her mother’s comforting touch. She looked at the sky, grasping for the clouds where she was sure her mother was watching, playing with her miscarried daughter. “I hope you and Faith Marie are happy up there, in the clouds. I know I can’t touch the clouds, not yet. But I… I’m glad that you could. I’m glad that you could reach the sky.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When I wrote this one, I imagined the sad music from fullmetal alchemist playing in the background.


End file.
